Tuesday

My resolve was tested already this morning: the solar guys are here working on my new electric system (Yay!), and I really didn't want to go out and run around the driveway with them here. I thought about skipping the run and doing something else today, like T'ai Chi or trampoline; I thought about getting up early and doing it before they got here (ha!); but finally I decided to just run down the road and back for about thirty minutes, instead of running around the house, which is what I did. My time was 30:34, using a 2:2-ish minute run/walk ratio. I have no idea how far I ran—less than two miles, no doubt, especially considering that I stopped to chat with Merle for a minute or so (there have been bears and mountain lions spotted on the hills!), but close enough.

I've considered running on the road for my weekday runs instead of around the house before, but never actually tried it. Here's what I found:

1) The time goes by much more quickly when you're going someplace and back, instead of just around in circles.

2) It's downhill all the way out and uphill all the way back, which makes the return mile a lot harder than the outbound, but it's not as bad as I thought it might be.

3) There is the danger of being interrupted when people driving by decide to stop and chat. Oh well!

I think I will measure off a mile from the house in my truck this morning and try doing a real two miles on Thursday.

In other news, I did go ahead and register for the Long Beach Half Marathon. After counting up the months again more carefully, I realized that there are really just over four months until the race, which would definitely not be enough time to train for a full marathon. Maybe next year!

Then I choked on how expensive the hotels were. I may have someone who'll go with me (yay!), but if not, it's going to be about $200 a night for a good hotel within walking distance of the race start/finish. Oh well! This will probably be my only other weekend trip for the year, so I guess I can afford it. I need to make reservations soon, the hotels are filling up fast. The official marathon hotel, the Hyatt, is already sold out for the marathon.